Commerce city manager Clarence Bryant announced Monday night the hiring of Scott Rodgers of Athens as the city’s new recreation director. Rodgers is currently the parks and recreation director for the city of Doraville. He will begin work Monday, April 2. His salary is “$55,000-plus,” Bryant said. He will succeed Lonnie Dickerson, who ...
[Full Story »]

Jackson County voters should impose a new 10-year one-percent sales tax on themselves July 31 to help their (and Georgia’s) economic outlook, a guest speaker told members of the Jackson County Area Chamber of Commerce last Wednesday. Douglas Callaway is the executive director of the Georgia Transportation Alliance, a group formed for the sole ...
[Full Story »]

The Commerce Police department made six felony drug arrests last week, all because the suspects attracted police attention with traffic violations. Three of them were in one vehicle traveling southbound on U.S. 441 with a very shattered windshield. The driver of the vehicle, Joey Loundase Wilbon, 28, of P.O. Box 441, Comer, told the officer he ...
[Full Story »]

The American Red Cross will hold a blood drive Tuesday, March 13, from noon to 6:00 p.m. in the family fellowship center of the First Baptist Church of Commerce. The church is located at 1345 South Broad Street, Commerce. The Red Cross provides blood services to local hospitals, including Northridge Medical Center and the Athens, Gainesville ...
[Full Story »]

Daylight saving time resumes starting at 2 a.m. Sunday. To have the proper time on Sunday morning, set all clocks and time pieces ahead an hour before retiring Sunday night. The principal effect of the time shift is to move both sunrise and sunset back one hour to “lengthen” daylight hours. Daylight Saving Time, implemented as a safety and ...
[Full Story »]

A thief who stole cash from a woman’s wallet left in an unlocked vehicle apparently left his cell phone behind, according to the Commerce Police Department. Police were summoned to the parking lot of the Northridge Wellness Center on Hospital Road, where a 54-year-old white female explained that when she emerged from working out after almost ...
[Full Story »]

Both the organizers and the participating artists agreed: The inaugural Folk to Fine Arts Festival and Expo held last weekend at the Commerce Civic Center exceeded all expectations. “We had wonderful feedback,” said Denise McKay, executive director of the Downtown Development Authority and one of the organizers of the event. “I think it ...
[Full Story »]

In a bizarre incident Friday morning, a Commerce Police officer used his pepper spray to subdue a man who attacked him as the officer investigated a report of a man cutting himself with a sword. Officer Charles Carroll responded to the Ila Road mobile home park and as he walked up to the door a 31-year-old white female came out of the door with ...
[Full Story »]

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. filed suit last week in U.S. District Court against former directors and officers of Commerce based Freedom Bank, which failed in 2009. FDIC seeks more than $11 million from a dozen defendants it says were grossly negligent in regard to bank loans. The Commerce bank, which also had offices in Jefferson, Banks ...
[Full Story »]